1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to license management system, which performs license authentication over a network, a control method thereof, an image processing apparatus and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent times a license management system has been developed that manages information of an application and of a device that executes the application. Use of the license management system allows, for example, execution of the application, also referred to as “activation,” on only a specified device. A license management system of such a type associates a device-specific ID with an application specific ID and a license, and manages the information in such a linked manner. Installing the application and a license file associated therewith on the device allows the application to be executed on the device.
It would be permissible to perform the license management over a network. For example, a content distribution system recited in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-233597 discloses a technology that distributes three types of data over a network from a server: content, an executable program that processes the content, and conditions of usage for the content and the executable program. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-4448 discloses a technology that batch inputs, into a user system, a license access number and a number of a device wherein the application is installed, and the user system receives a batch license issuance from a license management server.
Such a license management system as the preceding, however, has problems such as the following: the user must prepare by collecting the device ID, and must register both the device ID thus collected and the application ID with the license management system. Such user involvement with the registration work raises the possibility of an error occurring, as well as of registration of a false device ID. It is also necessary for the user to perform the work of installing the license information, upon issue, on the device, and activate the application, consequently breaking synchronization in the timing between the issuance of the license and the activation of the application, and thus precluding obtaining corroboration that the license was installed for certain on the device. Additionally, the volume of work and the load increases linearly with an increase in the number or type of devices.